


Shall We Dance?

by Cresstionmark



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Frozen (2013)
Genre: Could be romantic though, Dancing, F/M, Gen, Hans POV, Kid!Elsa, Kid!Hans, Originally meant as Platonic, kid AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 00:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15960842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cresstionmark/pseuds/Cresstionmark
Summary: "I didn’t understand what was going on. We had only been dancing..."Hans's usual dance partner is out sick for the day, but what will he do when his new partner completely freezes up? Kid AU





	Shall We Dance?

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of a question I got years ago about my young Disney Prince AU "Tiny Gentlemen", so references to other Disney Boys ahead!
> 
> Changed the tenses and did some light tweaks, but mostly the same as the original Tumblr version from 4 years ago.

Their eyes locked.

Elsa was almost paralyzed with fear. She had seemed afraid when the teacher called her to dance in the first place, but ever since Hans had brought his hands to hers she’d been shaking. He concentrated on that shaking, because that and her terrified gasps were the only things telling him that she was even alive. He didn’t understand what was going on. They had only been dancing...

No, scratch that-- they hadn’t even started dancing. She froze up as soon as he'd gone to get into proper position. He had given an audible sigh of relief when he was told Elsa would be his partner for the day, her sister, his usual partner, having come down with the flu. Anna was a…sweet…girl, but she wasn’t a very good dancer and Habs happened to like his toes. Elsa, on the othwr hand, seemed more careful, both in her waltzing and in the way she carried herself in general, so it seemed like a treat to get to dance with her today.

But now she was staring at him with terrified eyes in the middle of the dance floor with everyone watching and he had no idea what to do. He didn't know what was scaring her. Was it the waltz? Was it the people watching? Was it him? Why would it be him?

 _Get it together, Hans._ he thought. _It doesn’t matter what’s causing the problem, you just have to know how to fix it. How do you calm her down...The first step is for you to calm down._  He took a deep breath, loosened himself up, and started in a steady tone-

“Elsa. It’s going to be okay” _Hans, it’s going to be okay._ She seemed to respond to this, her attention returning to him. Okay, good. What next, what else did she need? Everyone was watching them…wait, she didn’t respond like this until after they’d held hands. He was already prepared to dance as soon as she’d reached him. Maybe he had gone too fast?

“We’re going to take this slowly. Okay?” he said. She nodded. She was slowly coming back, her breath slowing and the shaking subsiding to occasional hiccups. Eventually she took her own deep breath, and he saw some - but not all- of the tension leave her body. Good. Now would come the hard part.

“Elsa, I’m going to touch your back now.” she tensed slightly, but nodded that this was ok. Hans slowly lifted his hand and maneuvered it under her left shoulder. He looked into her eyes for any sign of discomfort, and seeing none that hadn’t been there before, gently placed his right hand on her shoulder blade. After it was in a position comfortable for both of them, he flicked his eyes to her right arm and, seeing that she didn’t know whether to mirror him or do something else, directed her to his right shoulder. Her eyes shone, as though in remembrance, and she brought her arm up and put it in place. They were half way there.

“Okay, Elsa, now I’m going to take your hand-”

He had assumed her back would have been the harder thing to ask for, but he was wrong. He asked for her hand and the hiccups returned. What was wrong? They were going slowly. What did he do now? What was it about her hands that scared her so much? It was when he looked down at them that I noticed something.

She was always wearing gloves.

She never went a day without them. She played with them on, she ate with them on and she probably slept with them on, so she was of course still wearing them today. Hans had no idea why she kept wearing them, but he had seen her take such care with them that they had to be important. They probably made her comfortable.

He returned his gaze to her, and started in a low voice again.

“Elsa, are your gloves on?” Of course they were, he knew that, he had just been looking at them. But did _she_ remember that? She stopped for a second and glanced at her hand. She was. She was wearing her gloves and her breathing slowed. Hans lifted his own hand so that she could see it.

“And I’m wearing mine. You are fine. I am fine. We are going to be fine.” He had no idea why she wore those gloves. He had no idea what she was hiding underneath them. However, He had my own reasons for wearing his, so who was he to ask her to tell anyone what it was, or to be angry because she kept it to herself? He offered her his hand, and, after making some sort of internal decision, she took it.

The dance after that was shaky. Apparently, she had never waltzed before, at least not with anyone but her father, so she wasn’t fully familiar with dancing. Hans didn't make it out of class without a few crushed toes, but the number was surely lower than if Anna had been dancing with him, so he considered it a win. He couldn’t completely blame it on Elsa, anyway, because he had spaced out several times staring at her gloves. What was under them? What was she hiding? Only when he made a particularly harsh misstep was his mind ever completely off of them.

They danced until Madame Potts was satisfied, and then they returned to the sideline to watch the next set of dancers.  When they sat down, the others immediately bombarded Elsa with questions,  occasionally glaring over at me accusingly, but she simply waved them off with the excuse of “stage fright.” Hans knew she was lying, she had to be, but the others seemed to accept it, patting her on the shoulders and changing to more pleasant topics, like how Naveen had been doing flips again today and how Rapunzel had somehow managed to keep her hair from wrapping her and Eugene together during a particularly lengthy spin.

Sometime, probably about an hour or so, later, class concluded and Madame Potts released everyone to go home. Half of the class had left already, but Hans always took his time gathering his things, (more correctly, he always somehow managed to lose his shoes, and at this point he was sure someone was hiding them every day) so he was still there. He had stopped paying attention, assuming everyone had left, so when Elsa tapped him on the shoulder he was surprised enough to make an unflattering noise. She laughed at it, in that mischievous way she always  managed, and for a brief second he wished she’d freeze up again.

“I just wanted to apologize for earlier. It wasn’t your fault” she began. Well of course it wasn’t his fault, but it felt good to hear her say it. “I was just scared and then it got really bad.” She was lying again. She wasn’t telling a true lie, but she was being vague enough, which really boiled down to the same thing. She was scared, that was true, but what was scaring her was not the dancing. It was something else entirely.

“What’s under your gloves?” Hans finally asked. They were alone. He saw no good reason not to just come out and ask her, right then. The curiosity was burning inside of him, and he was willing to put his own secrets on the line just to learn this one. She didn’t take in to it and completely dodged the question.

“Thank you again, Hans.” she said with a tone that vocalised her decision more than any verbal “I’m not telling you” ever could have. With that, she bundled her dress, turned on her heel, and began to leave.

“Elsa!  Wait!”

“I’ll tell Anna you said hello and that you missed her.” she said as she reached the door. “Oh, and Flynn put your shoes behind the far bench.” and, in an instant, she was gone.

Hans stood at the far end of the room, dazed and confused. What had just happened? He put his hand to his head for a moment, ruffling his hair in an attempt to maybe jog his brain. It didn’t work. He looked over to the bench Elsa had mentioned, and, just in the corner, saw his shoes poking out to say hello.

That jerk.


End file.
